Westbury White Horse Welcome to Westbury White Horse
The oldest of Wiltshire's
white horses, the hill figure at Westbury, is situated underneath Bratton
Castle, an Iron Age hill fort.
Today it looks quite different from when it was first created - there was
another carving at this site prior to the familiar figure that we see now.
Some believe this ancient figure was created in 878, possibly to commemorate
the battle of Ethandun, in which King Alfred fought off Viking invaders. However,
there is no evidence to suggest that the battle took place in the area or
that the original horse is this old.
Today's horse has certainly been around since at least the early 18th century.
In the 1950s it was decided that the horse would be more easily maintained
if it were set in concrete and painted white. The decision to concrete it
over was made to stop the chalk surface of the horse, which rests on a steep
slope, from crumbling away.
In recent years, there has been a multitude of calls to clean what had become
known after years of neglect as the "old grey mare". The horse had become
greyer and greyer since its last clean-up in 1993, with lichen and environmental
deposits being the worst culprits.
In 2001, English Heritage called in specialist contractor Nimbus Conservation
to steam clean the horse and it is now one of Wiltshire's most famous landmarks.
Westbury
White horse
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